Colin joined the team in December from a London firm where he worked for four years. Prior to that he has always worked within East Anglia, at both Hewitsons and Birketts.

Colin has advised businesses and individual clients with their employment matters for more than 15 years. His work covers all aspects of the employer/employee relationship, from recruitment to termination.

As well as providing day-to-day employment advice and support, Colin also advises on large-scale redundancy exercises and restructurings as well as executive service agreements and terminations. He has significant employment tribunal experience and recently advised on some of the largest and most complex business transfer and service provision changes (TUPE) cases to be heard. He is a regular speaker on employment law and often presents masterclasses on TUPE.

“I am really pleased to be back working in East Anglia and it is fantastic to have joined a firm that has such a great reputation,” he said.

Colin’s appointment takes Ashton KCJ’s employment team to 10, which includes team head Ross Strowger and solicitor Jess Piper, both of whom are based in the Norwich office, solicitor Abi Adams, who is based alongside Colin in Ipswich, and associate Claire Sleep and solicitor Carrie March who work in the Cambridge office.

: : Kate Cudmore has become a fully-fledged financial adviser for Essex independent financial advice firm Birkett Long after passing all six of the Chartered Insurance Institute’s Financial Planning Exams.

The 33-year-old former paraplanner from Great Bentley, who also has a law degree, has worked for the firm for the past two years.

She said it was thanks to Birkett Long’s encouragement that she decided to study for the exams: “Birkett Long has been incredibly supportive and has encouraged and assisted my studying greatly over the past two years,” she said. “It has meant I’ve been able to progress through the exams quickly and gain my qualification.”

Now Kate is looking forward to taking on more responsibility for the expanding department.

“Having worked in the same room as other qualified financial advisers for a year I have learnt that the most important aspect of any client relationship is empathy,” she added.

“Having now obtained my qualification and the knowledge required by a financial adviser, I am in a great position to confidently help meet clients’ needs and requirements.”

: : Essex Law firm Thompson Smith and Puxon (TSP) has appointed Fiona M Ashworth Ltd as a new partner in the firm. Fiona Ashworth, the director of Fiona M Ashworth Ltd, has worked at TSP leading the wills and estates team since August 2014. This appointment brings the number of partners in this growing firm to ten.

Fiona was born in Colchester and attended St Mary’s Convent and the Colchester County High School for Girls. She grew up on a farm and is married to a farmer.

Following her qualification Fiona decided wills and estates law was the area in which she wanted to specialise and she has subsequently built up extensive experience in advising clients on their wills and succession planning, powers of attorney, the administration of estates, inheritance tax and trust matters.

“I am a people person. I enjoy dealing with families, helping to sort out their succession planning issues, and often finding a commonsense simple way of achieving a balance across the generations. Being able to help people at times which for them are very often upsetting and stressful suits my personality,” she said.

She is a past trustee of the Essex Federation of Young Farmers’ Clubs and is currently a council member of the Essex Agricultural Society.

She is a qualified member of Solicitors for the Elderly which provides expert advice on elderly client issues including the provision of care, and a qualified member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners which provides expert advice on how to comply with the often complex law and tax rules surrounding trusts, estates and inheritance.

“I am very pleased to be practising in Colchester, a town which is very close to my heart, and am honoured, through my company, to have become a partner in Thompson Smith and Puxon,” she added.

“I look forward to assisting with the future development of the firm which already has an excellent reputation in Colchester and the surrounding areas. Before joining the firm I had aspirations of working for TSP, so becoming a partner in the firm is a great personal achievement and very pleasing.”

: : Vincent Crouch, former auditor for international firms including BDO and Grant Thornton, has joined Aston Shaw as audit manager.

He will be based in the firm’s Norwich head office, but will head the firm’s growing audit department covering all five office locations – Norwich, Cambridge, Ipswich, Dereham and Great Yarmouth.

Vincent, who is Chartered Certified (ACCA) Accountant and FCCA qualified, completed his training with regional firm Larking Gowen, where he worked in general practice on tax and accountancy jobs. For the past five years he has been working for international firms BDO and Grant Thornton as an auditor specialising in providing statutory audit and accounting services for small and medium size corporate clients.

“I am looking forward to working as part of the management team at such a fast growing, innovative accountancy practice,” he said. “My role will focus on expanding the audit department and ensuring that a high quality service is provided to all clients, no matter the size of their business.”

Immediately before joining Aston Shaw, Vincent spent six months travelling around India and Sri Lanka. In his new role, he will provide statutory audit to medium sized companies and assurance reviews for smaller companies.

: : Lincolnshire-based house-builder and developer Larkfleet has appointed Daryl Kirkland as group land director to oversee the procurement of short, medium and long term land development opportunities for the company.

Daryl, 48, an experienced and qualified land developer, spent over 15 years at Persimmon Homes, East Midlands division developing its land bank and was responsible for the appraisal and development of its residential land purchases.

He has been taken on by Larkfleet to play a similar role as the company moves forward with its plans to expand into the South West of England and Norfolk and Suffolk. Daryl will take the lead in identifying possible sites for development and negotiating with the land owners. He will also lead and co-ordinate Larkfleet’s planning, design, technical and land management teams.

Karl Hick, Larkfleet chief executive officer, said: “Daryl joins us at a time where we are expanding rapidly and taking the company in new directions with Larkfleet Homes South West and Larkfleet Homes Suffolk and Norfolk. He brings extensive experience and expertise in land development and will work with the rest of the team to grow our national presence as we continue to go from strength to strength.”

: : Nellie Jackson has joined the corporate and commercial team at law firm Birketts as a senior associate, having spent the past 10 years specialising in intellectual property at Bristows LLP.

Nellie advises clients on various intellectual property rights, including copyright, trade marks, and design rights. Her work focuses on brand protection and exploitation, advertising regulation and trade mark and copyright infringement.

She will be based at the firm’s Ipswich office but will also support colleagues at Birketts’ other offices in Cambridge, Chelmsford and Norwich.

She said she was “thrilled” to be joining Birketts, which had been involved in some high profile deals

Birketts partner James Austin said: “Nellie will be a great addition to the team.”

s trade gap narrowed to a better-than-expected £9.7bn in October after exports soared to a record monthly high">

Britain’s trade gap narrowed to a better-than-expected £9.7bn in October after exports soared to a record monthly high. Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed that the goods deficit - the gap between exports and imports - narrowed by £4.1bn in October from £13.8bn in September, with exports rising £2.1bn to £26.8bn and imports dropping £2bn to £36.5bn.

Insurance giant AXA, which employs around 1,500 people in Suffolk, is launching a world-wide policy on parental leave which will result in additional time off on full pay for new mothers and fathers within its UK workforce.